With Christmas over it’s always hard to go straight into decorating for Spring in the house. I always like to keep some type of wintry decor out on display. I have a snowman collection that I like to keep out through January but the rest of the house just feels plain without something that says winter. So I decided this year I wanted to create some type of January decor that still says winter without screaming Christmas. I wanted to experiment with some pipe cleaners and borax to create crystal snowflakes to hang from the window in the kitchen.
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Materials Need for DIY Crystal Snowflakes
- Pipe cleaners (any color will do, I used white and silver)
- Borax
- Hot water
- Wood dowel or pencil
- Floral wire
- Glass jar
For this project, you will need some pipe cleaners (any color or size), borax, hot water a dowel or pencil and floral wire. The first step will be to shape your snowflakes any shape you’d like using the pipe cleaners. I ended up cutting and wrapping so that each was a different shape. Although keep in mind that the design you choose will need to fit into a wide mouth jar or other glass container so that the crystals can grow and you can remove it from the jar without doing any damage.
I used silver and white pipe cleaners as that what I had on hand. But I think these would also look really cool if you used blue. Another option is to color the water with food coloring to change the crystal color. Once you have your shape you will attach some floral wire to the top so that it can be suspended in the jar. The other end of the floral wire should be wrapped around a dowel or a pencil to keep the snowflake upright and suspended in the jar.
The next step is to boil the water and add the Borax, I doubled the solution because my glass containers were so big:
- 3 cups boiling water
- 1 1/2 cups borax
Once water is boiling, add borax and stir until it dissolves and pour into glass containers. Then suspend snowflakes until the entire design is covered with the solution.
I boiled my water in the microwave in a large glass measuring bowl and then added my borax and stirred it around until it dissolved. Pour into the jars until it covers the snowflake. Due to the amount of snowflakes I had I needed to make up two batches of the mix at a time.
Now the hard part is waiting! I just left these sitting on the kitchen counter and it is fun to walk by and see how many crystals have formed. I let them sit for 24 hours. Once they are to your desired thickness take them out and place on wax paper to dry before hanging. I made sure the wire was long enough to use as a hanger so that I didn’t have to attach something else for hanging. And now I have these hanging in my kitchen window and I think it keeps that cozy Christmas vibe that I enjoy without all the Christmas colors and a perfect way to decorate in January.
